Yes, please! Ping-pong sounds great. Let's finish that joint and play some ping-pong, and pretend a little longer that the path toward healing that our characters have been on didn't just take a giant U-turn back into the darkness. But these things are rarely linear, are they?
The opening interleaves Kevin's hopeful preparations for the next step in his new relationship with Nora, with Patti's equally careful preparations for "Memorial Day". Kevin is looking forward, but Patti is always looking backward. As ever, it's hard to imagine that Kevin's efforts will be a match for Patti's next move.
And what a move it is. The early scene between Laurie and Patti echoes each beat and shot of the opening scene of "Gladys", with the two women silently confirming their readiness to do what needs to be done next. I briefly assumed that Laurie would play Gladys' role as the next sacrificial Guilty Remnant member, but we learned quickly that she was agreeing not to be sacrificed, but to assume Patti's position as leader of the GR.
"But you...kept fսckin' pushing me, Patti, and I reacted."
Yes you did, Kevin, and unfortunately it never occurred to you that Patti knew exactly what your reaction might be. Patti, who has been out-maneuvering you since you met. Patti, who despite being beaten and bound, breaks her silence just to goad and threaten you, finally demanding what she expects will be her last cigarette before execution.
Luckily for Kevin, he manages to hang onto his last thread of integrity, fighting Dean to save Patti's life, and informing Patti that he's ready to accept the full consequences of his actions. This is the critical pivot that saves this episode from being pure darkness, offering some hope that Kevin may actually rebound in some way from his own rock bottom.
— Did anyone other than Nora still use answering machines in 2014?
— I'm glad Matt and Meg made up. Matt's just as dogged a proselytizer as the GR, isn't he?
— ...but I'm very sad that Jill and Aimee had a falling out. I hope this doesn't mean we'll see less of Aimee, but I'm very interested to see how Jill and Laurie handle Jill's potential application to the GR. (Will Laurie be the first mother in history to force her daughter to chain-smoke?)
— I'm glad we finally learned what happened to Kevin's shirts (sort of – it's still possible that the Blair Witch stole them), but how creepy was it to see them all dangling from tree trunks? Have all the freakouts you need, Kevin; you've earned them.
— How will Kevin deal with his Jekyll/Hyde nature? How will he square it with Nora? And what is the deal with Dean?
— I loved the parallel scenes of Jill and Kevin threatening the dog and Patti, respectively, with knives. It worked so beautifully the second time because the audience could guess what was coming, marking both the first and last time we got to be a step ahead of Patti.
— The poem Patti quoted was "He Bids His Beloved Be At Peace" by Yeats.
— At least the dog has a brighter future after this episode. Run free, no-name dog, and may you find a food source more reliable than Kevin Garvey's memory.
Sign on the GR wall: "It won't be long now." Wayne said the same thing to Tommy in "Solace for Tired Feet".
Dean: "We caught a dog, and you bet that you could civilize him. You win, I stop shootin' the fuckers, I win, you give me a dollar? Yeah, and I will collect that dollar, so don't try using this amnesia bullshit to back out."
Patti: "Tell me, am I still a fat, heartless c***? That's what he said, right?... Well, Kevin, that is a kind offer. Take me home, give a polite little beep as you drive off, but you should know that I have every intention of reporting you to the actual authorities. I will tell them that I was abducted off the street, and I will identify my attackers. And they will take your job, and then they will take your child. You want to undo this, but I simply cannot allow that, so...you're just going to have to batten down the hatches and finish what you started here, my friend. Now get me a fuckin' cigarette!" Damn, I am going to miss Patti. (Luckily I've started watching The Handmaid's Tale, so I don't have to miss Ann Dowd for long.)
Matt: "Megan's mother passed away on October 13th, one day before the departure. She has a right to be angry. Her grief was hijacked."
Meg (written): "I'm sorry."
Matt: "I accept your apology."
Nora: "She's not sorry."
Matt: "She's here. It's a start. I'm not giving up on you. Thank you for coming by."
Jill: "Did you fuck my dad?"
Aimee: "Yeah, Jill. I did. I fuckеd your dad. And I felt really bad about it, so I was like, 'Hey, Mr. Garvey, this is so wrong.' But he was like, 'Hey, let's stop pretending to be okay, because no one is okay.' And he was totally right, and he was so hard, Jill. So I fuckеd the shit out of him on top of a pile of guns."
Patti: "I've had some experience in research, and most people, you can find out all sorts of things about 'em with no trouble at all. But you, dog killer... no driver's license, no records, no anything, so I don't know. You may be able to shed some light about your friend here, but as far as I can tell, he's a ghost."
Dean: "I prefer to think of myself as a guardian angel."
Patti: "Well, shit. I think I just heard a bell ring."
Kevin: "What did I say I wanted?"
Dean: "You said it was time to end it."
Kevin: "I don't want to hurt her."
Dean: "Oh, yes, you do."
Dean: "Chief, I get it. You tried every way you could to stop these fucks, but you could only get so far because you are a good man. So how about you go back to the truck and get comfortable, close your eyes? 'Cause I need to talk to the other guy."
Scott: "Nobody keeps the gun in the crisper, dude."
Adam: "That's where I would hide it."
Scott: "What if she comes home?"
Adam: "Then she'll go right for the gun. Boom. Mystery solved."
Twin: "Do you think Aimee was really fսcking Garvey's dad?"
Other twin: "Probably. Dude is ripped."
Patti: "Oh, Kevin, you can't kill me, you don't have the fuckin' balls. I want you to commit. I want you to finish what you started. I want you to go all the way. I want you to say you understand. Understand what? What happened, what's happening to me, to you.
"Oh, vanity of sleep, hope, dream, endless desire, the horses of disaster plunge through the heavy Clay: Beloved, let your eyes half close and your heart beat over my heart and your hair fall over my breast, drowning love's lonely hour in deep twilight of rest... And hiding their tossing manes and tumultuous feet.
"Kevin. Kevin. Kevin Garvey. You don't have to hide from me."
When I'm preparing to review an episode, I like to watch it once as a casual viewer, and then a second time with a paper and pen and a lot of pausing to take notes. When I finished "Cairo" the first time, I wondered how I could possibly sit through it again. Somehow I managed, and on the re-watch, I found that for such a brutal episode, it's surprisingly…fantastic?
It's now up there with "Guest" as one of my favorites of the season. The story kept taking turns that somehow seemed both shocking and yet completely inevitable. Kevin's late-game determination to take ownership of what he had done, both in his right mind and his not-so-right mind, was the positive note that buoyed this episode out of the depths.
Four out of four horses of disaster,
Mothra
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